Miscellaneous News.

Renowned Clinton hater Laurence Silberman was among those recognized by our dictator as being deserving of the Medal of Freedom, which only goes to show political hacks are just as deserving of this honor as are people who actually did something for their country.

The late Representative Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor to serve in Congress, also received the honor. He was deserving while Silberman is not:

During the 1990s, Silberman reportedly advised activists on how to pursue allegations of sexual misconduct by then-President Bill Clinton, whom Silberman once accused of "declaring war on the United States" for permitting his aides to criticize independent counsel Kenneth Starr during the investigation of the Whitewater case (Inter Press Service, February 6, 2004). He also has advised those controlling the Wall Street Journal editorial page, a key outlet of neoconservative opinion. According to David Brock, an erstwhile right-wing pundit who has had an adversarial relationship with Silberman: "He was a behind-the-scenes adviser to the conservative editors of the Wall Street Journal editorial page, and he delighted his conservative audiences with his acid critiques of the liberal press" (quoted in Inter Press Service, February 6, 2004).

And note this:

More controversially, Silberman has been accused of having played a key role while assisting the Ronald Reagan presidential campaign in 1980 in setting up secret contacts between the Reagan campaign team and the Islamic government in Iran, in what became known as the "October Surprise."

The guy should be in jail rather than be honored.